President Goodluck Jonathan, Wednesday, said that his inclusion in list
of richest African presidents is baseless and libelous, and demanded a
retraction and apology form Richest Lifestyle.com and all those who have
published the said article.
The President through a statement signed by Reuben Abati, Special Adviser
to the President on Media & Publicity. Read thus
‘’We have noted with consternation the listing of President Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan by a website – RichestLifestyle.com – as the sixth richest
African President with an estimated net worth of $100 Million U.S.
Dollars.
The Presidency condemns the totally unwarranted inclusion of President
Jonathan in the publication titled “Africa’s Richest Presidents 2014” as
another attempt to unjustifiably portray the President as a corrupt leader
and incite public disaffection against him.
We categorically assert that there is no factual basis for ranking
President Jonathan as the sixth richest African Head of State with a net
worth of about $100 Million U.S. Dollars.
As it is well known, President Jonathan has never been a businessman or
entrepreneur, but a life-long public servant. The President has held
public office since 1999 and has regularly declared his assets as required
by Nigerian laws. He has had no personal income since 1999 other than his
official remuneration as deputy governor, governor, vice president, acting
president and president which are matters of public record.
There has been no significant variation in the totality of his personal
assets as contained in his last declaration to the Nigerian Code of
Conduct Bureau in 2011 which, as can be verified, was a very, very far cry
from the $100 million figure now being bandied about by Richest
Lifestyle.com and other irresponsible, copy-cat publications.
The clear and unacceptable imputation of the claim that President
Jonathan is now worth about $100 Million is that the President has
corruptly enriched himself while in office which is certainly not the
case.
We therefore demand a retraction and an unreserved apology from Richest
Lifestyle.com and all those who have reproduced the offensive article.
Otherwise, they should be prepared to substantiate their libelous claims
against the President in courts of law within and outside Nigeria.